Sweet and Tangy Pulled Chicken

Why This Recipe Works: A simple spice mixture and an easy-to-assemble homemade barbecue sauce make it easy to turn slow-cooked bone-in chicken into tangy, silky shredded chicken—perfect for piling onto buns for an easy dinner. Quickly microwaving the aromatics together with the chili powder, paprika, and cayenne softened the onions and infused them with layers of barbecue flavor while blooming the spices. We found that simply seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper before nestling the breasts into our quick sauce mixture of ketchup, molasses, and the aromatics was enough to infuse the chicken with the rich essence of the sauce. Stirring in vinegar at the beginning of cooking made the sauce too thin and dulled its acidity, but adding 2 tablespoons of vinegar at the end of cooking along with a small amount of mustard ensured that the sauce was the perfect consistency and retained its bright flavors.

Check the chicken’s temperature after 2 hours of cooking and continue to monitor until it registers 160 degrees. Serve on hamburger buns with pickle chips and Carolina-Style Coleslaw (recipe follows).

1. Microwave onion, tomato paste, chili powder, oil, paprika, and cayenne in bowl, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes; transfer to slow cooker. Stir in ketchup and molasses. Season chicken with salt and pepper, place in slow cooker, and turn to coat with sauce. Cover and cook until chicken registers 160 degrees, 2 to 3 hours on low.